The 12 year old boy, Chan Chao Loy (or ‘Loy’) is one of thousands of waste picking children in Cambodia. Being fond of reading books and a bright child as well, his record is very high in a school where he is a 4th grader as of 2013.

Two years ago, Loy has decided to pick recycling materials to help his impoverished family. He also had been eager to buy school materials, bag and a new bicycle. Ever since, he never skipped any single day for work, which starts from around 4 am to last about 3-4 hours if his school hours are set for after noon. If his classes are set in the morning, he works after school. However, he couldn’t make afford a new bicycle because of high price. He earns on average 1,000 Riel (approximately 0.25 USD) per day. Loy’s father, tuk-tuk driver, said the family’s income is as low as 20 USD per month during low season, reasoning that the family had to move from a 30 dollars (monthly) rent house to current neighborhood where illegally built shacks are plenty, 3 years ago. In this neighborhood, most of dwellers are waste pickers. Loy’s mother is also a waste picker working from 11 pm till early morning.

The family are living near downtown of Siem Reap, where 2 million tourists are annually attracted to Angkor Wat. Despite the town’s prosperity, the province of Siem Reap is one of the poorest in the country. Extreme poverty is not uncommon. Making matters worse Loy’s both parents are HIV positive, while Loy, his half-sister and a nephew are not.

Loy’s childhood and his family mirror still the devastating reality of the country. Cambodia has enormously suffered from a decades-long civil war and also brain drain, which legacy was caused by Khmer Rouge’s abhorrence of intellectuals many of whom were massacred. Even though the war is over well before, extreme poverty remains intact today. Exploitation by developers and foreign business are rampant. Deep-rooted corruptions has made urban poor, like Loy’s family, have kept cycling poverty line.

Loy’s story would be part of my long term project Life Recycling, in which I would proceed with stories of South Korea, my home country, the one considered to be among developed world. Yet a number of elderly are picking recycling materials for a living. As South Korea has been persistent to keep welfare system at poor level, disparity between the poor and the rich has been substantially widen.